Last Word On Baseball will be traveling to Connecticut for this edition of each state’s top 10 baseball players. There have been many players that have cycled through the league that was born in CT. Some of the best names have been more recent players and some are still active. This list contains players from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. All of them are worthy of being named as one of the best Connecticut baseball players.
Greatest Connecticut Baseball Players
Matt Harvey
Career: 50-66, 4.42 ERA, 1.286 WHIP, 867 SO, 966.1 IP, 9.4 WAR
Accolades: All-Star, NL Comeback Player of the Year
Matt Harvey was born in New London, Connecticut in 1989. He was a standout pitcher at Fitch High School in Groton, Connecticut, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels his senior year. Harvey decided to go to the University of North Carolina instead, and it was definitely the correct choice. After his junior year, he was drafted seventh overall by the New York Mets in the 2010 MLB Draft.
It didn’t take long until Harvey became a big-time starter in The Show. He made his MLB debut in 2012, and what an outing it was. He finished his first career start with zero earned runs, 11 strikeouts, and a win. In the following year, he proved to be one of the best pitchers in the league. Harvey made his first All-Star Game with the Mets in 2013. He finished that year with the best FIP (2.01) in MLB with 191 strikeouts, which helped him finish fourth in NL Cy Young voting.
After that stellar season, Harvey had to undergo Tommy John Surgery at just 24 years old. He missed the entire 2014 season and ended up having a great year following the injury. The Writers’ Association awarded him with the NL Comeback Player of the Year award in 2015. Subsequently, Harvey was never the same. He continued to struggle with injuries and off-the-field issues. Harvey last played in 2021 with the Baltimore Orioles and is still a free agent for the upcoming season.
Rajai Davis
Career: .262/.311/.379/.690, 1111 H, 62 HR, 387 RBI, 11.8 WAR
Accolades: 2016 stolen base leader
Another player that was born in historic New London, Connecticut, is Rajai Davis. Davis spent his college years at a subdivision of the University of Connecticut, Avery Point in Groton. The school is right across the bridge from his hometown. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 38th round of the 2001 MLB draft. It wasn’t until 2006 that he made his MLB debut with the Pirates.
Davis was quite the journeyman during his time in MLB. In his 14 seasons played, he was a part of nine total organizations, including two stints with the Oakland Athletics. The outfielder will mostly be remembered as one of the best speedsters the game has ever seen. Davis racked up 415 stolen bases in his career, and in 2016 he led MLB with 43 when he was with the Cleveland Guardians. Also, Davis was responsible for one of the most historic plays in MLB history when he hit the home run to tie game seven of the 2016 World Series.
Dick McAuliffe
Career: .247/.343/.403/.746, 1530 H, 197 HR, 696 RBI, 37.6 WAR
Accolades: 3x All-Star, World Series
Born in 1939, infielder Dick McAuliffe grew up in Farmington, Connecticut. He was just 17 years old when he started playing in the minor leagues. It took McAuliffe a short amount of time to make it into the big leagues. He debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1960 when he was only 20 years old. The three-time all-star had a long, 15-year career. He spent his first 13 with Detroit and his last two with the Boston Red Sox. In 1968, McAuliffe was a part of the Tigers World Series team and led MLB in runs scored. In the series, he had six hits and four walks, including a home run.
Jim O’Rourke
Career: .310/.352/.422/.775, 2639 H, 62 HR, 1208 RBI, 52.2 WAR
Accolades: HOF, 2x World Series, Batting Title
Jim O’Rourke was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1850. He spent his college years at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. O’Rourke is one of the players who laid the groundwork for the game of baseball. He was the 116th unique player to debut in baseball history. There are now about 23,000 different players to debut in MLB. No individual leagues were established in baseball until 1876, four years after O’Rourke debuted. Baseball was much different when it first started, but there is no denying the statistics.
O’Rourke played 23 years of professional baseball. And despite only playing 1999 games in that span (86 games per season), he still had 2639 total hits and maintained an above .300 average. O’Rourke would be known most for his time with the “New York Giants,” but he also played with seven other teams in his entire career. The Giants won back-to-back World Series in 1888-89. This time was before there was an all-star game, but it is safe to say he would have made it in multiple years. The first baseman had his best season in 1884 when he led the NL in both hits (162) and average (.347).
AJ Pollock
Career: .276/.332/.469/.801, 1010 H, 140 HR, 470 RBI, 23.2 WAR
Accolades: All-Star, World Series, Gold Glove
AJ Pollock was born and raised in Hebron, Connecticut. He went to RHAM High School in Hebron, then made his way to South Bend, Indiana to play college ball at Notre Dame. Pollock was quite a stud during his time at Notre Dame. He hit .359 with a .987 OPS and 49 stolen bases in his sophomore and junior years. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Pollock with the 17th pick in the 2009 MLB Draft.
The outfielder didn’t look back when he made it to the show in 2012. Pollock quickly became an everyday player in his second year with the team. He has always been under the radar during his career. One year that really sticks out is the 2015 season. He had 192 hits that year with a .315 average, an .865 OPS, 39 stolen bases, and 20 home runs. He made his lone All-Star Game that season as well as an NL Gold Glove award for centerfield. After that, he began to struggle with injuries.
Pollock joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 to fill holes in the outfield when needed, and he made a great contribution. His first and only World Series ring came when he was a part of the 2020 LA Dodgers. Now, after one year with the Chicago White Sox, Pollock declined his player option and remains a free agent for the 2023 season.
Charlie Morton
Career: 116-101, 4.03 ERA, 1.294 WHIP, 1697 SO, 1797 IP, 13.1 WAR
Accolades: 2x All-Star, 2x World Series
While born in New Jersey, Charlie Morton’s family moved to Connecticut at a very young age. Morton spent his adolescent baseball years at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Connecticut. The Atlanta Braves drafted him out of high school in the third round of the 2002 MLB draft. It wasn’t until 2008 that he made his MLB debut with the Braves. Following a bad rest of the season, Morton was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates and bounced between the Majors and minors. In 2017, The Houston Astros traded for the right-hander and quickly realized, after being in the minors for a cup of coffee, he should be a starting pitcher at the highest level.
Talk about aging like fine wine; His 33-year-old season was his best performance to that point in his career, and it would only go up from there. In 2017, he had a 3.62 ERA and racked up 14 wins with the Astros. Morton was a huge factor in the postseason for Houston in 2017, especially in the World Series. He pitched 10.1 innings, only giving up two runs, and had 11 strikeouts including a huge game-seven performance. The following year, he had another great season and made his first career All-Star Game. In 2019, the Tampa Bay Rays signed Morton to a two-year deal. He pitched 194.2 innings with a career-high 240 strikeouts and a 3.05 ERA in his first year with the Rays. He also finished third in the AL Cy Young voting.
Morton and the Braves agreed to a homecoming in 2021 and what a perfect time for him to rejoin the team. In the regular season, Morton went 14-6 and led the Majors in games started with 33… at 37 years old! He was performing well in the playoffs and helped lead the Braves to the World Series. In game one, Morton suffered a fractured bone in his leg that forced him to go on the injured list for the remainder of the series. Thankfully for him, Atlanta was still able to win the title. Now at age 39, the Braves signed Morton to a contract extension.
THE ATLANTA BRAVES ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!#BattleATL | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/rDXjLj4HSj
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 3, 2021
Roger Connor
Career: .316/.397/.486/.883, 2467 H, 138 HR, 1323 RBI, 84.3 WAR
Accolades: HOF, 2x World Series, Batting Title
Roger Connor, born in 1857, is from Waterbury Connecticut. He was one of the first 500 players to play in MLB. Connor spent 10 of his 18 years playing professionally with the Giants. Interestingly enough, Connor and O’Rourke were born only half an hour apart from each other and ended up playing on the Giants together. Similar to O’Rourke, Connor was a hit machine. There were multiple seasons when Connor led the league in average, slugging, and OPS. In 1885, he took the batting title when he hit a career-best .371. He was quite fast as well back in the day. Connor had 233 career triples and had one season where he stole 43 bases in just 127 games played. In the back-to-back 1888-89 World Series, Connor totaled four home runs and only struck out twice in 65 plate appearances while hitting over .300 in each series.
Mo Vaughn
Career: .293/.383/.523/.906, 1620 H, 328 HR, 1064 RBI, 27.1 WAR
Accolades: MVP, 3x All-Star, Silver Slugger
Mo Vaughn was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1967. After high school, Vaughn went to Seton Hall University in New Jersey. He was an absolute beast at Seton Hall. He set school records in both total home runs (57), and broke the school’s single-season record with 28 home runs… as a freshman. The Red Sox took Vaughn 23rd overall in the 1989 MLB Draft. He debuted as the 10th-best prospect in baseball in June of 1991. It wasn’t until ’93 that he found his footing with Boston. He became their everyday first baseman and began socking home runs left and right.
Vaughn, while making his first All-Star Game, won the MVP award with the Red Sox in the 1995 season. He hit 39 home runs and led the AL in RBI with 126. It was good that he was able to lock up the award because he had a much better season the next year and only finished fifth in AL MVP Voting. The 1996 AL MVP race was loaded with talent and is one to remember. Here is a comparison of Vaughn’s stats:
1995: .300/.388/.575/.963, 39 HR, 126 RBI, 4.3 WAR
1996: .326/.420/.583/1.003, 44 HR, 143 RBI, 5.6 WAR
After the ’96 season, Vaughn was still a great power bat. He was able to make another All-Star Game and have a top-5 AL MVP finish before moving on to Anaheim Angeles in 1999. His career began to decline due to injury. The “Hit Dog” ended his career with the Mets in 2002.
George Springer
Career: .269/.358/.494/.851, 1048 H, 221 HR, 584 RBI, 34.2 WAR
Accolades: 4x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger, 2017 WS MVP
George Springer is a through-and-through Connecticut native. He was born in New Britain, CT in 1989 and spent his college career at UConn. Before that, he played high school ball at Avon Old Farms in Avon, CT. Springer led Team Connecticut to a national championship in 2008 after being drafted by the Minnesota Twins while still in high school. Dominant is an understatement to describe his three years at college. He became UConn’s highest-drafted baseball player when the Houston Astros selected him 11th overall in the 2011 draft. In his career at UConn, he batted .346 with 46 home runs and 196 RBI.
Springer made his MLB debut in 2014. In just 78 games that year he hit 20 home runs and had a 126 OPS+. Only a few years later, and improving every step of the way, Springer was one of the biggest pieces that would help the Astros win the 2017 Fall Classic. He walked away with the World Series MVP award after batting .379 with a 1.471 OPS and five home runs (tied for most in a single World Series).
His best year, by far, came in 2019 when he finished seventh in AL MVP voting. Springer put up career highs in almost every major statistical category that year. He was fifth in the AL in home runs (39) and he was in the top four percent in xSLG (.578) and xwOBA (.400).
After the shortened season in 2020, Springer signed a six-year, $150 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. Injuries plagued his first season with the club, limiting him to only 78 games. But, he bounced back in 2022 and was able to make his fourth All-Star Game.
Jeff Bagwell
Career: .297/.408/.540/.948, 2314 H, 449 HR, 1529 RBI, 79.9 WAR
Accolades: HOF, MVP, ROTY, 4x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger, Gold Glove
Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, Jeff Bagwell moved at a young age and grew up in Middletown, Connecticut. He went to four years of college and played baseball at the University of Hartford. Bagwell was drafted by the Red Sox in the fourth round of the 1989 MLB Draft. His first two years in Boston’s minor league system were not a challenge. The first baseman debuted with the Astros in April of 1991 and never looked back. But what happened to him being on the Red Sox, one may ask? Well, he was a part of one of THE worst transactions of all time. Boston was trying to push for the 1990 World Series, so they traded Bagwell for reliever Larry Andersen. They lost in the ALCS and Andersen pitched a total of 22 innings for them.
At the age of 23, Bagwell was the everyday first baseman for Houston. Bagwell won the NL MVP in 1994, and it could go down as one of the best seasons of all time. He led MLB in SLG (.750), OPS+ (213), and RBI (116). Those numbers, except for RBI, are higher than Aaron Judge had in his 2022 MVP season. After that year, he had three more All-Star appearances as well as two top-three NL MVP finishes. Something that Bagwell should be admired for was his durability. In 15 seasons with Houston, he averaged 143 games played over the 162-game season. The one thing missing from Bagwell’s resume is that coveted World Series ring. The Astros made it in 2005, but couldn’t get the job done against the White Sox.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players mentioned:
Matt Harvey, Rajai Davis, Dick McAuliffe, Jim O’Rourke, AJ Pollock, Charlie Morton, Roger Connor, Mo Vaughn, George Springer, Jeff Bagwell, Larry Andersen, Aaron Judge
